Technique to evaluate impact of new technology on operator time loading

The impact of new technology on system user time load was successfully measured with the approach described in this paper. The measurement technique quantified the work time of air traffic controllers in four categories of concurrent human activity—communication, visual, hand/arm, and body displacement. On the basis of time measurement data collected during operational testing and evaluation of a prototype decision support system, the buyer learned that the system caused a more than expected increase in user time load. A decision to buy a costly but unacceptable system was avoided. This same technique can be used by others to quantify the impact of new technology or work processes on system user or operator time load.